Alder New Moon
A time for making decisions. Alder month is time to find a way of expressing our hopes and dreams - for renewal. The Alder grows quickly and its energy can help us move.
New moons are always a sign and time of re-birth and re-activation.
They’re the beginning of a new lunar cycle.
Celtic tree astrology and the Celtic tree Calendar are modern constructs, dreamed up by Robert Graves, a poet and mythologist - Thirteen trees, one for each lunar cycle in the year.
Where astrology believes the effect of each new moon takes on the characteristics of astrological transits also occurring at the same time and of the archetypal sign it’s placed in. The tree calendar was developed so that each moon cycle took on the characteristics and archetypes of the tree it was placed in.
Archetypes of planets, the cosmos and nature offer us reflections of consciousness, they reinforce our inter-connective totality to all known and unknown things.
A L D E R
Common Name: Alder
Scientific Name: Alnus
Irish Name: Fearnóg
Family: Betulaceae
Planet: Neptune
Element: Water & Fire
Symbolism: Defense, protection, strength, boundaries. Alder helps us to face things straight on with both a shield and sword in hand.
Colour: Purple
Alder is the fourth consonant of the Ogham alphabet Fearn
This Alder new moon is the fourth month of the Celtic Tree calendar, March 18 - April 14.
Our home is surrounded by Alder trees, we live between two lakes and there’s lots of water around us so they’re very easy to grow around here and they grow fast. The life span can be short but they offer us great protection from the elements as well as providing good firewood when they die.
A native tree it’s robust and is amazingly resistant to water, it can thrive in wet, boggy and poor soils and is tolerant of the wind, the roots of Alder also enrich the soil…
It’s a tree that both supports and protects.
When immersed in water Alder can harden to the toughness of steel, and was used in the past to craft shields. The tree was associated with wars and battles probably for this reason, as well as for the blood red colour of the timber and sap.
Alder teaches us that sometimes there comes a time when we must both fight a battle and surrender simultaneously. To flow into the surrender of that which is unfamiliar and to fight for the whole. There is a skill in being able to balance these forces, as the astronomical vernal equinox also demonstrates to us at this time.
Alder reminds us that we must balance courage, strength and fight with love, compassion and empathy, so that we may serve everything and everyone at this crucial time - Tending to the wounds of nature, whilst combatting the systems which continue to threaten us.
Having the wisdom to see what lies beneath the surface and the fortitude to rise in a rooted, balanced, strong and determined way.
When Alder is cut, its wood changes color from white to orange to red, giving the appearance of bleeding, and it is thus associated with "Fear Dearg" - the "Red Man" who, according to Celtic legend, helps humans lost in the Otherworld to escape back to this reality. Alder is a fairy tree often found growing on the banks of strams and in damp places. Where land and water meet, there is always access to the otherworld.
Whistles made from green Alder wood are said to summon the wind and good water spirits. The three dyes: brown from its twigs, red from its bark and green from its flowers, symbolize Earth, Fire, and Water.
Ogham. The Celtic Oracle Paperback – Andy Pracownik, Peter & Baggot
ALDER MOON
A time for making decisions.
Alder month is time to find a way of expressing our hopes and dreams - for renewal. The Alder grows quickly and its energy can help us move.
There is a jewel within our collective self awaiting to shine - Listen to hear what you’ve forgotten and allow all the pieces of your spirit to return and unite. Listen to the birds, the ground, the sea, the wind, the earth.
Listen, learn, restore and renew.
SPRING EQUINOX
Spring Equinox - Late childhood.
The vernal equinox when day and night are of equal length. The bright half of the year has arrived and the seeds and intentions that we have been tending, will SLOWLY begin to emerge.
This is the time to build strength and make the preparations for action and doing.
The sun is rising and continuing its onwards and increasing journey.
\SPRING EQUINOX ENERGY//
Gathering
Community
Strengthening
Emerging
Preparing
Anticipation
Day and night are balanced. Justice means balance - balancing one set of needs against another, balancing what we take with what we give.
We are a village, we are one whole. It’s time for us to stop inflicting pain on ourselves and our planet, a suffering we don’t need.
We know in our hearts that everything is transient, a constant flow always moving..
It’s time to TRUST and RENEW.
GRACE
The woods is shining this morning.
Red, gold and green, the leaves
lie on the ground, or fall,
or hang full of light in the air still.
Perfect in its rise and in its fall, it takes
the place it has been coming to forever.
It has not hastened here, or lagged.
See how surely it has sought itself,
its roots passing lordly through the earth.
See how without confusion it is
all that it is, and how flawless
its grace is. Running or walking, the way
is the same. Be still. Be still.
“He moves your bones, and the way is clear.”
WENDELL BERRY